Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-09
DOCTORING THE BRANDS.
A Texan Cattle Industry that Hemp Has
spoiled.

g Star man. 81 don't mean to say there
is no money in the business now, only
that it is carried on dlferently-mors
legitimately, | might say-than it used to
be. Why, when l was just learning 10
stick to bucking ponies, men without e.
cent in their cans were coming to the
state and branching out So big Cattle
owners There were fortunes made in 6
couple CT years that could hardly be &C
cumulated in 8 LIFETIME at the business
now. How was 1t done: I'll tell you.
"Wnat was known as the Maverick
system was in vogue then. A maverick
is yearling calf that has escaped the
branding iron. Where there were large
herds of cattle It Often happened that some
were overlooked ct branding time, and
many were caIved in the bush and rSn
wild. These mavericks were considered
common property by the stockman, and
wherever he found one he'd rope 1t, tie it
down and run his brand on it. Then the
ears were sliced TO correspond with the
recorded ear marks OF the rarchman and
the calf turned loose. Maybe the ranch
man was branding MS own stock, and
maybe be wasn't Thst cut no figure
with him.
"Iu those days re had no pastures, snd
cattle were simply lOose-herded on the
range. Certain landmarks would be set
down as limits Of his range by the stock
man, and his herders Instructed u keep
the stock within these limits. In the
morning the herders would round the
cattle in sight 10 points within the limits.
Al night they would be headed for tie
sailing or bed ground cnd left Uatil
morning. OF course there were mSnv
ST: eys, but each ranch sent on. hunt in
the spIiGg TO round up the herds OF neigh
boring stocbmau and 10 cut out any cattle
found amCrE them bearing their ranch
brand. And under this system Of hand
lug cattle stOC6men considered that
m2veTicking woulG even itself up in the
long run. The only qualification was
thatG party should own stock ID be prop.
erly entitled 10 maverick.
"uere's where foreigners coming into
the state, perniless, got the best Of rs.
Some fellow worked IN g COW camp long
enough u learn that there was g fortune
for him IN mavericks. He Invested his
wages in cow ponies, went 10 the nearest
| town and had 2 brand recorded, got g bag
Of meal and s side of bacon and took 10
| the bush. IN less than g year he had 4
thousand head OF young cattle roam
| ing over the country with his
| brand on them. Then he hired
some men, built rancn and
went on & grand roundup. All the fat
steers BE drove 20 market, keeping the
heitgrs to breed from. His men were rot
| long il learning how he had worked il,
and then they blarChed out for tGem-
| selves. In @ short time the country was
Overrun with maverickeTs, and pretty
sOop the most barefaCed thieyery ever
| recorded got TO be common as dirt in Il
| corn dodger. Your wOuld-ba honest
| stoCkman had TO steal 20 keep even, and
! the calves Of milCn COWS in the COrTals
were stolen.
at got 10 be common thing for the
! tame cattle that came into the ranch f5l
salt TO be followed By calves WeSrinq
strange brands; and this lea 10 the coun-
! ter branding that used to make the hides
/ Of Texas cattle look Ike drawings OF
choice town lots.
"Here's an instance. l had 8 little
! Durham heiter, ole of the finest short
! horns brought into the state. Her first
calf vas not ten days Old when some Ci
/ the boys told me that it had been nav
ericked. | hunted it up and, sure enough,
some cusS had run big B + on It's side
: ana undersigned esch ear. l drove it to
/ the ranch ana put s big L after the other
! letters, making the brand read & 4 l.
| TEen l s1erped esch eer and turned il
out. Tie mex. time | saw inst cali both
! ears hsd been gru5bed out ct the head
| end the brand read 3 4 l .. Was mad:
/ Some.
Then mavericks began to get scarce as
water on the Limo, snd the COW thieves
| turned their attention to altering brands
! Old jim Loving, up in Lost Valley, owned
shout 1000 or 1000 head VI cattle. They
were all branded with what he called g
/ alf-diamOnd L on the left shoulder. The
/ half diamond was over the L. He and |
/ took nerd up the Chism trail to Kansas
/ in II, and somewhere between Sun City
and Fort Dodge we caught up with
another herd that hsd gone up ahead OF
| us. 1t had been sold that day. Loving
/ counted 200 odd head of his cattle in the
herd. They were all branded on the left
shoulder with an inverted I inside OF 9
| diamond.
Jim was hopping mad. We leSrred
that the fellow who sold the herd was .
red-headed Mexican called Colora L
Getting some of the boys, we started
sitter him. He got almost to the Nation
| Indian Territory before we caught him
The boys set him s-strAddIe of his OWL
pack horse and tied his legs under the
animals belly. Then larlat was tieC
under his chin, and the other end thrown
over the brsnch Of live oak
where one of the boys caught i
end made it fast to the horn Of his
saddle. Then Colorau was given ebou
five minutes to tell over his beads. While
the darned skunk was whimpering some
thing about 'Ssncts Maria, Madre &,
Dios,' Loving gave the signal. Tn
herder with the rope tied to his saddle
horn dug spurs into his pony and sho
away like the wind. 1t IVES forty
foot lariat, and be reached tn
end with q jerk that threw his pom
back Oh his hsunches. That greaser'
neck popped Ike the report OF { six
shooter.
ct vas tie only wsy to deal wit
those fellows, and that kind OF trcatle4
hes made them scarce. Since we hav
90! to building big pastures with bsrbei
wire fences ground ZEN, mayerickin
and cattle stealing aave shout died GU
And We don't nave TO hire so many herd
ars either. Men ride around the pas
lures every Gay or SO 10 see that tt
fences ere not down, but they don't carr
branding irons with them. Branding
done st regular periods now"
J. \. Q.
Let 1t Gest
Big springs Pantagraph.
! The answers 10 the Fort Worth Ga